A Handy Tool To Check Food For Spooky Ingredients

Halloween is almost here and many of us are inundated with treats and temptations that are not part of our daily diet. At least I hope they are not part of your daily diet! Before you dive into that bag of candy the kids will bring home from trick or treating, have you considered checking the ingredients? To make that much easier, I have a handy new tool, called Food Scores, to share with you. In my world as a health coach, this is really big news … read on.

Before I go any further, let me say I am your health coach who occasionally eats candy, and let’s her kids have candy too. Remember my post about the 90-10 rule? I don’t expect my clients to never indulge in treats, and I certainly don’t follow a perfect diet. However, there is a big difference between the brightly colored candy filled with genetically modified organisms (GMO), artificial dyes, and additives our kids are eating and the candy we grew up with in the past. Candy has gotten more harmful over the years, as natural sugar was replaced with high fructose corn syrup and other food additives that make these product labels read like a chemistry experiment. The result feels like “Franken-foods” (eeks)!

So the real question becomes, how do you reasonably allow these treats in your life and enjoy the holidays, rather than become the food police for you and your family? Instead of swearing off all candy, I recommend being selective and limiting the consumption. If you can, buy and eat “cleaner” candy; candy with ingredients you can read and understand on the label. Perhaps make it a goal to have all of the candy out of the house within a week after Halloween. In my house, the Candy Witch comes and leaves toys for boys who give her the rest of the candy.

Food Scores

And for the treats that do end up in your kid’s trick or treat bag, I am excited to share with you a very handy tool to check for those “spooky” ingredients. The Environmental Working Group has just released a database and an app, called Food Scores. This new consumer tool is the most comprehensive food database available today. Its scoring system factors in not only nutrition, but also ingredient concerns – such as potentially harmful food additives and toxic contaminants – as well as the level of processing. You’ll also be able to see if your foods are certified GMO free, organic and so much more. This is the best tool I know of for learning what’s really in your food and how you can make healthier and greener food choices.

What I like best about Food Scores, is that it provides succinct information about why an ingredient is considered hazardous and what are better substitutes. It also compares across categories, so even if a product is the best one within a category, it doesn’t receive a top rating unless it is truly a clean, nutritious, whole food. For example, in other food apps, packaged breakfast cereal may receive a top score because it has no sugar and touts whole grains. However, with Food Scores, cereal wouldn’t receive a top score because it’s a heavily processed food and therefore stripped of most nutrients. I love this app!

Remember to check if you are putting a wholesome treat into your body, or is the food industry tricking you into thinking you are getting something relatively ‘clean’ when it is really not? Let Food Scores help guide you during Halloween and beyond!